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BY DR. JERRY THOMPSONJuan Cortina helped exterminate the last remainingband of Karankawas, shot the Brownsvillemarshal, ambushed Texas Rangers, captured theUnited States mail, defeated the Matamoros militia,battled the United States Army, harassed theConfederate Army, ambushed French Imperialists,attacked Mexican liberals, and fought anyone elsewho dared get in his way.

He defied one Mexican president, revoltedagainst a second, and fell victim tothe political intrigues of a third. He claimedto be a Mexican patriot, but in September1864, he accepted a commission in theImperialist army of Maximilian, a decisionthat would tarnish his reputation for years.Cortina never learned to read-and onlywith difficulty could he write his namebuthe rose to political and military heightsof which the more literate could onlydream.Born in Camargo, Tamaulipas, on May16, 1824, Cortina spent his formative yearson the north bank of the Rio Bravo, participatingin the rough-and-tumble politicsof Cameron County at the same timehe held a commission in the Mexican militia.To many of the desperately poor, politicallymanipulated, and economicallyabused along the river, he was a saviorstraight from heaven, a high-stepping bordercaudillo (military leader) who would restoretheir pride and dignity, abolish theevils of Anglo-American barrister shenanigans,and restore Mexican authority northto the Nueces River and perhaps beyond.At age 22, as a corporal in the Defensoresde la Patria, a company of the GuardiaNacional de Tamaulipas, he fought in thebattles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma;in the three decades that followed, he wasin at least 30 other battles and skirmishes,yet never was wounded. In combat he displayeda bravery and coolness that defiedbelief, but while most Anglo-Americans rememberedhim as only a ruthless and brutalbandit who on occasion heartlessly executedhis enemies, evidence exists, paradoxically,of his kindness and gentle manners.

Oacholars have little doubt thatCortina orchestrated the theft of morecattle in Texas than any man ever, yet hewas accused of hundreds of other crimesall the way from Laredo to the Gulf ofMexico, none of which he could have conceivablycommitted. Like "Old JohnBrown" of Pottawatomie and Harper's Ferryfame, who rode onto the pages of historyat virtually the same time, Cortina was oneof the few individuals to be indicted fortreason by a state.

Etching of Juan Cortina by Jose Cisneros.Original in color. Courtesy of JerryThompson.